1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a sound generating toy, and in particular, to such a toy in which a sound generating device provided therein is operated by detecting the interruption of light impinging on the sound generating toy by a face, hand, or the like of a toy operator.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
A prior art sound generating toy is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open (Kokai) Publication No. 60-49894 (1985).
In this prior art toy, a sound generating device of the toy is designed to be operated by sensing a sound. For this purpose, a melody generating mechanism having a sound sensitive actuating switch is provided in the toy body as the sound generating device. The sound sensitive actuating switch is composed of a microphone, an amplifier, and a switching circuit which turns on the melody generating mechanism in response to a sound sensed signal from the amplifier. The melody generating mechanism starts its operation upon receiving an ON signal from the switching circuit and finishes the operation after the lapse of a fixed time period.
However, since the prior art sound generating toy is designed to operate the sound generating device by sensing a sound, there are problems in that it is impossible to distinguish extraneous sounds, such as, for example, a sound made by opening or shutting a door, sound made when an object falls to the floor, etc. Hence, the sound generating device is caused to operate erroneously by the extraneous sounds, and it is impossible to operate the sound generating device only when the operation thereof is intended by the toy operator.